Testimonies
My youngest son David, has challenged me to a "Hunt Off" with the "Big Game Hunting" game on Wii. Wants to face off with me the next time I go up to visit. Bought the game to prepare myself...to outshoot him, of course, and it started me thinking about some things...going to share them with you...Got a minute?
About this Big Game Hunting Wii challenge...Don't laugh! I used to have my own 22...with a groundhog carved in the stock! Had a garden in Cairo, W. Va and had to keep the groundhogs out of it!
Picture this: Pregnant w/Angie (BIG), dressed in a peasant dress, hair pulled on top of my head, dragging myself up the hill to my garden, 22 in hand, to thin out the groundhog population! I am a very good shot! And yes, I sometimes cooked them in a pot pie. (Hey...in a pot pie...meat is just meat! The origin need not be told!)
There is a lot you guys don't know about me. (And some of you probably don't care to...too late...I'm on a roll today!)
Don't be fooled by the innocent Grandma look! I was quite the pioneer at one time. Canning, quilting, hunting (only on the small creature level) I can make soap, candles, and preserves and keep you alive in the wilderness!
I have helped extract syrup from "sorgum" cane with a mule pulling the grinding wheel and tended wood fires under the syrup to boil out the impurities. I can draw you up plans for a major sized drying house to dehydrate anything you want to grow, show you how to store it; show you how to build the best fire in a wood stove and bank it down for the night; how to find something we called "lighter knot" to use with your kindling to do it. I have raised goats, chickens, rabbits, a few ducks. (And some kids...they were the hardest! LOL)
I know how to do laundry on a "washboard" and hang them around a wood stove to dry. (Even have done the laundry in a tub with only a plunger as an agitator! That was not fun!) I have gone outside in the cold to build a fire to warm a baby's bottle; lived without running water in a 8ft. camping trailer for 2 1/2 years; lived in another place without hot water for 3 years. I have patched jeans on a treadle sewing machine; gathered "greens" from the woods and cooked them with bacon grease; made "dandelion salad" and "pine needle tea" (yuck! Tasted like Pine-Sol) I owned my own horse and once even rode a camel in Israel.
And that's only part of the story! I have laughed a lot; cried a lot; and "prayed without ceasing." I met a lot of amazingly wonderful people along the way ( and a few real "stinkers!") The most interesting were the Cherokees, who I learned to love, when I lived at the Cherokee Children's Mission in Bunch, Oklahoma. I have had some great friends and terrible enemies. ( I miss some of the former and defeated most of the latter.)
I have been welcomed at some churches...and thrown out of others! (No kidding!) I have had some of God's people pray with me, a lot of them for me, (and probably a few agin' me) and one time a small committee come to my house and try to "cast demons" out of me because I wouldn't follow them into things that were not according to the Word.
I have made a lot of mistakes; and corrected them the best I could. I have sinned and been forgiven...by God and others. I have fallen and got back up; been sick and was healed; hurt and been comforted; been discouraged and had my faith restored; suffered in silence and sometimes fought back and whined about it! LOL I have at times run ahead of God, and sometimes drug my feet trying to resist change.
The most important thing I have learned along the way...God loves me and I can trust Him with my life...every single detail, of every single day! He has never, and will never let me down. I love Him with all my heart, soul, and strength and nothing can separate me from His love for me. He said so! I am grateful for every place my feet have walked, because He was with me...and worked "all things" for my good. I will never turn aside to follow another...no matter how they try to threaten or intimidate me; no matter what they try to do to me, or take from me. I know my God and I will not serve a lesser god. (There is no place in my life for any little god; only one...the BIG God!)
My love for Him is real; my trust in Him is complete; and my life is totally dedicated to His will. I posted a quote on my bulletin board a long, long time ago and it says: "Lord, I agree to receive what you give, lack what you withhold, relinquish what you take, suffer what you inflict, and become what you require." Made that vow a long time ago. Hasn't always been easy...but it has always been worth it! On November 29th it will have been almost 40 years since I gave my heart to the Lord, at the foot of my bed. No alter...no preacher...no sermon...all by myself...I gave Him my heart and He took it! What a glorious adventure this has been! And it's not over yet! Sometimes I wish it was; not because I am "begging off"...I am just anxious to see Him face-to-face and be able to love Him "in person!"
Didn't know this "simple post" was going this way...no apologies...I just sit here and let Him take me where He wants me to go. My heart is so full, it just overflows sometimes. Maybe it only blesses me (and Him) when it does...and if that's true...it's okay. I enjoy it, get encouraged in the midst of it, and He certainly is worth the time it takes to do it, and He is so very worthy of the praise that is poured into it! Next chapter of my life? I don't know...but He does! Trusting Him to write it, give me the instructions on how to do it in the way that is pleasing to Him, and walking in the overwhelming joy of the Lord, which is my strength!
P.S. Thought I would stop back by and tell you the current facts...don't want you to think I am on the side of a mountain somewhere "roughing it." I live in a wonderful town in Florida; three bedroom (two of which are really offices) 2 bath rancher with running water (even hot) LOL. I am a published writer, speaker (though it has been while since I have officially spoken anywhere; concentrating more on writing) even had a radio broadcast one time in Texas! I have eight Blogs, two cell phones, and every electronic you can thing of (almost) and love my life! So you can see, a lot has changed! Except my love and gratitude to God...but wait...that has too...it's deeper! Love what I learned along the way....and still remember it all...especially God's goodness. Next chapter...stay tuned! LOL
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